For the better part of the last year, Verizon has been relying on its DROID handsets to spur business and take away any magic from the iPhone. But now that the beloved iPhone 4 has finally joined the ranks, it presents somewhat of an interesting dilemma for customers since previous Verizon advertisement spots touted on how “DROID DOES.” And now that Big Red finally has an Android powered world phone in the form of the Motorola DROID 2 Global, will customers still jump the wagon and side with the iPhone 4 – which interestingly enough was the target of dissent previously?

Design:

Let’s get it out of the way, but both handsets are fantastically well built all around to instill confidence that they are meticulously designed to withstand the adverse effects of normal wear and tear. At the same time, they’re both fairly normal sized and easily tuck away in the pockets – but there is slightly more weight with the DROID 2 Global. Still, we adore their choice of materials since they radiate with that premium feel as you hold them, but there is just something more alluring about the iPhone 4 with its glass like surface. However, we’re not as confident that it would survive a drop from a lengthy height compared to the DROID 2 Global.

Both handsets are fantastically well built all around

Naturally, there’s plenty of detail and clarity seen with their displays, thanks partly to their high resolutions, but the DROID 2 Global has the size advantage with its 3.7” LCD display as opposed to the 3.5” IPS display of the iPhone 4. The hidden weapon in the iPhone 4's arsenal is its Retina Display that packs an impressive resolution of 640 x 960. Although doesn't differentiate it really that much, compared to the 480 x 854 resolution with the DROID 2 Global, it still nice that it presents the user with a bit more detail in the image. Color production seems more vibrant with the iPhone 4, while viewing angles are vastly superior with the iPhone 4 as well. However, both displays are quite accurate to the touch and we didn’t find any registration problems during our experience. Placing both devices next to one another, one can easily see that the iPhone 4’s Retina Display shines more brightly – especially outdoors under the gaze of the sun.

Since the DROID 2 Global relies on capacitive touch buttons beneath its display, there is still a tendency of accidental pressing. Conversely, it’s nearly impossible to mistakenly press the single home button of the iPhone 4 seeing that it offers a springy response when pushed.

On its sides, we actually prefer the separated volume buttons of the iPhone 4 because they slightly protrude to provide a reasonable feel versus the recessed look of the DROID 2 Global’s volume rocker. However, the iPhone 4 packs on a vibrate switch, while the two-level shutter key of the DROID 2 Global is much appreciated as well. And again, the dedicated power button of the iPhone 4 is raised high enough to offer a sensible feel versus the one on the DROID 2 Global which is almost flush to the surface.

Both smartphones employ a 3.5mm headset jack, but the iPhone 4 resorts to using Apple’s proprietary 30-pin connection port for charging and syncing, while the DROID 2 Global relies on a traditional microUSB port.

In the rear, we find their 5-megapixel auto-focus camera in the upper left corner, but the DROID 2 Global packs a dual-LED flash as opposed to the single one with the iPhone 4.

The backs of the Motorola DROID 2 Global (L) and the Apple iPhone 4 (R)

There are also some other added benefits with the Motorola DROID 2 Global – such as its removable battery, microSD card slot, and its physical keyboard for typing. Inversely, the iPhone 4 takes a dive with video chat thanks to its front-facing camera.

The Motorola DROID 2 Global has a physical keyboard, while the Apple iPhone 4 boasts a front-facing camera

the iPhone's software also doesn't degrade at much as Android's. You can take the iPhone 3Gs and the original Droid and the 3Gs still feels like it's out of the box. The Droid however slows down, becoming sluggish and a pain to use after a few months, even using task killers doesn't seem to help.

At least that's my experience, of course it's different for everyone else.

4.applesauce (unregistered)

tkfox, anything that stores data made right now, and I mean anything, will eventually have its capacity filled up by data, such as files, apps, music, browsing history, keystroke memory, onboard dictionary, etc, which will slow it down. iphones have no exception to that rule. In fact, they're even worse of because of it, since they lack any external storage abilities, such as MicroSD cards. Yes, they have a non disc-based drive, which helps keep things in check more than disc-based drives, and their OS architecture is such that when multiple apps are trying to run, those in the background are suspended, which keeps them feeling faster, but your entire statement about iphones not degrading is false.

10.jbchamby (unregistered)

In my opinion the droid 2 is a better all around phone than the iphone depending on what your using it for but I've had an iphone through AT&T and I just bought my wife the iphone 4 from Verizon for her birthday and I currently have the droid global and even though I've always been a huge iphone fan I can honestly say that in my opinion the droid 2 is better than the iphone in durability and performance... my wife has only had her phone for about a week and she doesn't use it all that much but her phone is already getting laggy and its froze up on her several times while I have over 1000 songs and a few movies loaded onto my droid and it runs as smooth as the day I got it... the droid processor outdoes the iphones hands down and and while the iphone come with eeither a 16gb or a 32gb internal memory the droid comes with 32gb of memory and it also has a slot for an SD memory chip so that's a plus... and yes the iphone is a good looking phone and its got a beautiful glass screen but whoever said about the iphone being a better phone durability wise is crazy... the glass screen for the iphones are gonna be a big problem for people that are a little rough on their phones or got children that may get ahold of it because when that screen cracks your phones f**ked.. the only real thing about the iphone that's better than the droid 2 is the retina display... but for anyone that's a texter and hates talkin on the phone I strongly suggest going with the droid because the slide out keyboard... and also for ppl that use their phone for the internet again the droid is far better than the iphone with the internet connectivity because it comes equipped with flashplayer something the iphone doesn't have so you will only be able to watch certain videos on your iphone but u can watch virtually anything on the droid 2 and u don't gotta worry about losing reception with the droid like you do with the iphone while on the internet or on a call... so to sum it up... with all the experience I've had with iphones and this being my first ever droid.. droid takes the pot in my book because it does everything the iphone does and more importantly it does the little things the iphone can't do...but I guess it all depends what ur gonna be using your phone forbut thanks for reading and sorry for takin up so much space

11.tip (unregistered)

12.TB626TB (unregistered)

The most important part of this review was not covered. INTERNATIONAL CALLING both from overseas and to overseas.
Having talked with Verizon the IPhone hardware has been removed and is not a global phone any more when it has the Verizon name plate attached.
So, this comaprison is void.

13.TB626TB (unregistered)

You can not made international phone calls with the Verizon IPhone.
The At&T phone can be used for International Calls.
The circuit that is in the AT&T Iphone has been purposely removed from the Verizon Iphone.

14.BFN (unregistered)

15.muphasta (unregistered)

So, 2 things I was really interested in on a smart phone, video chat and GPS - voice commands.

It looks like the voice command directions comes w/the Droid. Is it an app on the iPhone that costs extra?

The video chat was a bigger issue since I'm on the west coast and my parents on in the mid-west. I'm trying to get my parents to get an iPad and my intent was to get the iPhone so we could use facetime or whatever that app is.

Video chat isn't even an option w/the Droid so it looks like iPhone is the winner.

22.Droid 2 Global user0209 (unregistered)

I have to say that video chat is an option on the droid 2 it just isnt the same as the iPhone. There are a few apps that you can use to video chat on the Droid 2. One app is called Tango and of course if you have a Skype account it allows for video chat. As I stated previously it does not work the exact same way because the Droid does not have a dual facing camera but all in all it is there.

16.Shredder (unregistered)

Yea you can get navigation apps on iphone, you just have to pay for them. Personaly, im going to buy an iphone 4 today and get out of this pos droid 2. Nothing but problems. Ive had three, and my wife has had 8. We are done with droid. DONE! Lol

17.swagswag (unregistered)

18.Spadez7 (unregistered)

Im the sorry, but find a website with actual meticulous statistics and you will see that the iPhone 4 will always trump the Droid. Those of you who say the Droid offers more customization have never seen the beauty of a jailbroken iPhone. If you saw MY iPhone 4, you could hardly recognize it as a iPhone. It's absolutely rockin'!

19.JohnA (unregistered)

20.John (unregistered)

I can tell you that droid 2 is nothing compared to the iphone period. Droid 2 is poorly built vs the iphone. Ive had both.. The droid 2 gave me nothing but problems and had to get 3 new ones in the 6 month time period because the same thing kept happening. First time the screen went out and the next 2 times the phone controlled itself by opening apps, browser, calling people, zooming in and out, opening my contacts list scrolling down and deleting people. It did it all day long to the point where I turned it off and swapped back to my envy touch for awhile. Plus the camera is absolutely horrible the quality of it looks like 2 Mega pixels every photo is blurry and poor quality. Iphone is fast, problem free, has a great camera, and battery life id recommend it over the droid any day.

21.tryecrot (unregistered)

23.Jim C (unregistered)

I am a keyboard person. I really enjoy the keyboard, makes for sending, text and email much easier. I have the ipod for music, and the touch screen takes a bit getting used to, and there is that constant touching of the wrong letters and numbers while entering data.

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